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A fighter pilot in WWII, a pioneer in the flight test world at a time when that was an extraordinarily dangerous profession, Bob Hoover was one of the greatest pilots in the history of aviation. In the world of great pilots, Hoover was arguably second only to Chuck Yeager.

Blaine Harden, author of Escape From Camp 14, has written a new book, The Great Leader And The Fighter Pilot, which chronicles the rise of Kim Il-Sung, key milestones in the Korean War, and the life of No Kum-Sok (Kenneth Rowe), who would defect to the United States by flying a MiG-15 into Kimpo Air Base in South Korea on 21 September 1953.

In 1996, No and Embry-Riddle humanities professor Roger Osterholm co-wrote A MiG-15 to Freedom.

Well, not really. If this were Hollywood, it would be entertaining. Unfortunately, given that the incident may have emanated from a lax attitude toward professionalism, it is likely indicative of the need for fundamental change in the system.

One of the reasons I admire President Reagan was his willingness to fire the air traffic controllers, who went on strike even though they had agreed contractually not to do so.

The crew of Northwest Airlines Flight 188, which overshot their destination by 150 miles–and attracted the attention of the White House–first said they were arguing over airline policy. Now, the NTSB is saying that they were using their laptops.

Whatever they were preoccupied with, it was enough for them to fail to notice the air traffic controllers who were contacting them, and serious enough that they failed to notice the fighter jet that was trailing them.